ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Shortly after the video of the prison beating of Robert Brooks was released, a former state prison inmate reached out to News10NBC Chief Investigative Reporter Berkeley Brean to share what he experienced.

They met along Webster Avenue in Rochester, the neighborhood where the former inmate grew up. In fact, for a couple of years as a kid, he hung out with Robert Brooks. Because his prison past might affect his work, he asked that his face not be shown and his name not be used.

Berkeley Brean, News10NBC: “When you watched that video from inside the prison, what did you see and think?”

Former Inmate: “Regular behavior I knew existed continuing to exist past the number of years I’ve been out of there.”

The former inmate says he was never beaten in his 10 years in prison, but he was on a crew that was ordered to clean up blood after fights between guards and inmates or between inmates.

Berkeley Brean: “You’re saying that there were instances where there was a conflict between a corrections officer and an inmate and you would have to clean that mess up.”

Former Inmate: “Yes, the blood after the fact, yes, if there was blood or bodily fluids involved.”

The Department of Corrections says it’s in the process of trying to fire 13 people involved in the Brooks’ case. One employee resigned. A state prison report says 2,976 inmates were assaulted in 2024. The report doesn’t distinguish how many involved guards.

Berkeley Brean: “Why do you think things like that happen?”

Former Inmate: “Personally I believe it’s many different reasons. I’ve heard officers say they had a bad day at home with their wife so they’re going to (expletive) somebody up this evening. Or don’t (expletive) with them today because they’ve had a bad day. Something went wrong here. Something went wrong there.”

“They put the kid on the wall and the next thing I know the kid is on the ground screaming, yelling, hollering for mom because they beat on him,” the former inmate said, recalling what he saw and heard his first day in prison.

Former Inmate: “And then midpoint in the afternoon they took him out to the infirmary and I never saw or heard from the kid again.”

Berkeley Brean: “And that was your first day.”

Former Inmate: “That was my first day in prison, yes. Very first day.”

The former inmate says he was never beaten and his prison sentence straightened out his life.

Berkeley Brean: “What do you think would work in prison to stop what we saw happen to Robert Brooks?”

Former Inmate: “I’ve always wondered why – maybe not necessarily media – but there is no access if you think about it.”

He says more cameras are needed to capture what happens. After Brooks’ death, the state commissioner of corrections ordered the expansion of body-worn cameras in prisons and said guards must have their cameras on any time they deal directly with inmates.

Former Inmate: “That’s the biggest thing that would be a deterrent to that is understanding, one, these guys, these men, these women are human beings. They’re family members, they’re fathers, they’re sons. They’re somebody’s loved one. And you might be in there for hurting someone’s loved one. That’s something you deal with internally in your own way. It’s not for you to make that worse for me.”

“Watching the video evidence of Robert Brook’s life being taken left me feeling deeply repulsed and nauseated,” said New York State Department of Corrections Commissioner Daniel F. Martuscello. “There is no excuse and no rationalization for a vulgar, inhumane act that senselessly took a life. This type of behavior cannot be normalized, and I will not allow it to be within DOCCS.”

Martuscello outlined several steps the department is taking in response to the tragedy, including enhancing body camera policies, expanding senior leadership presence in facilities, and communicating the commitment to investigate and improve as an agency to the incarcerated population.

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